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Post by wynne on Oct 16, 2009 19:35:22 GMT
Wait. What? I'm confused.
So... Jack made the laser cows surround the house... because it's part of Annie's dastardly plot to get back at the teachers for taunting them with quad bikes and fire... so it's all a big joke, and Jack is now friends with them... and everyone except Jack has a dour expression on their face because.... it makes sense? Am I the only one not getting the joke?
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Post by idonotlikepeas on Oct 16, 2009 19:43:15 GMT
Annie made a plan to lock the grownups out of the house to teach them a lesson and (someone) enlisted Jack's help to keep them out since he had obvious expertise with the laser cows. It doesn't look like Jack has become friends with them, he just agreed to help. He's still brushing off Vegeta at the end there.
Winsbury. I meant Winsbury.
It's funny because the adults get their comeuppance, but also because it involves laser cows. Everything with laser cows in it is hilarious.
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Post by nonfactor on Oct 16, 2009 19:47:46 GMT
Yeah, I figure that expression on Annie's face in panel 6 says "maybe I was wrong about him, but I still don't trust him."
And I don't think it's an accident that Jack's smiling in all the panels in which we see him. I think he's genuinely happy that he's helping out the other kids; maybe allowing for a sense of normalcy - or normal at least in the context of the court (I don't think a laser dome made from robotic cow eyes would elicit the same emotional response from the rest of us).
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paracelsus
New Member
Dreams must be heeded and accepted. For a great many of them come true.
Posts: 22
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Post by paracelsus on Oct 16, 2009 19:57:01 GMT
Is it me or has Jack just trapped Annie in a place away from the safety of all the adults that are watching out for her? I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking this. Jack's contribution does not mean he's made up with anyone, it could be simply that keeping the adults out and the children in are in his best interests. Whatever those happen to be. Would certainly be a very good twist on the chapter, though I've never been able to accurately predict Mr. Siddel's plots, so I'm also sort of expecting it to be something completely different. Though, perhaps just as devious. P.S. I think Annie is also considering this possibility, hence the dour face, despite the fact that her plan has just gone off without a hitch. It may also have been that the laser cow grid wasn't apart of the original plan and was suggested by Jack whilst Annie was away. I mean, no one else there would have any reason to suspect Jack. Sure, while Kat knows that Jack stole Annie's blinker stone and was rather mean to them, she certainly has no reason to suspect that he is anything more then a jerk.
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Post by Ulysses on Oct 16, 2009 21:41:18 GMT
And I don't think it's an accident that Jack's smiling in all the panels in which we see him. I think he's genuinely happy that he's helping out the other kids; maybe allowing for a sense of normalcy I think he's more happy that he got the chance to mess with the teachers and show off his affinity with technology at the same time. Even back before his encounter in Zimmy's world he was proud of his abilities - "I just fiddle with the dorm's motion detectors and it's easy to slip away." This could be false modesty, but mostly it's playing up how easy he finds tinkering with electronics. As for Willy...how does he get his hair to stick up so much? Does he use as much mousse as Red?
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Post by todd on Oct 16, 2009 22:17:48 GMT
Sure, while Kat knows that Jack stole Annie's blinker stone and was rather mean to them, she certainly has no reason to suspect that he is anything more then a jerk. Annie also warned Kat, after seeing the "etheric spider" on Jack, to keep away from him - but as far as we know, hasn't told Kat why as yet.
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Post by AluK on Oct 16, 2009 22:50:06 GMT
As for Willy...how does he get his hair to stick up so much? Does he use as much mousse as Red? That's his superpower. Awesome Saiyan hair.
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Post by todd on Oct 16, 2009 23:00:26 GMT
Before this evening, I assumed that the chapter was almost over, with the children having turned the tables on the teachers. But then, I thought that Chapter Twenty-three was almost over once Parley kicked everyone out of her room and Smith walked away in a glum mood, so maybe Tom's got another surprise to spring on us.
I don't think that Jack will attempt to try anything nasty on Annie in the house, though. The proper way of doing that would be to get her alone, rather than with a crowd of other children about (and I don't think that Jack would stoop to disposing of all the other children just to keep them from interfering); we also don't know for certain if he even intends harm towards her, beyond some mean remarks. (It still depends, I believe, on whether he was simply a rattled boy who came to Annie asking for answers and was rudely rebuffed, as his defenders argue, or whether he was tainted by his experiences in the nightmare city and turning darker all the while.)
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Post by Robo Alchemist on Oct 17, 2009 0:27:23 GMT
And the house is surrounded by small trees and big shrubs. How big a tree does it have to be for Marcia to get through it? I think there needs to be some amount of live wood that she can fit her whole body through, and not just twigs or leaves. Also, how could the laser cows form a whole dome with latitude lines going all the way up? I could understand longitude lines from where their eyes are, and the single latitude line for the same reason, but how would they get multiple lines? I suppose it's just the "etheric power" of the court?
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Post by Mylian on Oct 17, 2009 1:02:26 GMT
Arching vertical laser beams are equally as inexplicable as the horizontal beams with no apparent source. To bend light like that, you'd either need to alter the refraction index of every cubic inch of air on a vertically gradient scale or simply put a stellar mass inside the house.
In other words, if he could manage to teach the cows to actually bend their lasers (which he obviously did, since that's what they're doing), bending parts of the beams at a sharp 90 degrees to form cross-bars would be just as easy as bending the beams gradually to arc overhead.
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Post by Casey on Oct 17, 2009 6:12:49 GMT
It could have been worse: He could have just programmed the laser cows to incinerate anyone over the age of 15.
All things considered, and knowing who we're dealing with here, I'd say the teachers are pretty lucky.
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Post by hal9000 on Oct 17, 2009 6:58:31 GMT
It could have been worse: He could have just programmed the laser cows to incinerate anyone over the age of 15. All things considered, and knowing who we're dealing with here, I'd say the teachers are pretty lucky. I'd rather disagree about that; I don't think Jack is quite so bloodthirsty. Either because he's not a bad guy (the optimistic view, and the one I agree with), or because he's smart enough to know that committing mass-murder in such an obvious way wouldn't get him very far (the pessimistic view). That said, I think I brought up a similar point a while back, in that given the makeup of the student body, it seemed likely that someone would be able to reprogram/bend the laser cows to their will. I'd argue that the teachers are lucky that the laser cows weren't used to make a real fire during the counter-prank or reprogrammed for use as sentry-guns during the abductions.
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Post by bisected8 on Oct 17, 2009 10:09:51 GMT
Does anyone else get the feeling Jack didn't reprogram the cows as much as befriend them? I mean earlier he was taking a (metaphoric) thorn out of one of their paws as it were and there's the phrase "...just like I taught you".
He's either dealing with the cows more organically than just reprogramming them or he's a stickler for showmanship...
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Post by Robo Alchemist on Oct 17, 2009 14:21:21 GMT
I'd say it's the first one. Jack knows a lot about machines, but, like Kat, not artificial intelligence. besides, artificial intelligence means you don't have to reprogram it - the program rewrites itself in the form of 'learning'.
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Alex
Full Member
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Post by Alex on Oct 17, 2009 15:42:06 GMT
Guys, arching lasers are no less silly than fire-extinguishing lasers.
Recall the Sagan quote.
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Post by Per on Oct 17, 2009 16:55:36 GMT
"I have a problem with this chapter." --Carl Sagan
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Post by tyler on Oct 17, 2009 17:57:54 GMT
No. It's:
"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." --Carl Sagan
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Post by TBeholder on Oct 17, 2009 18:15:42 GMT
You know kids, revenge sounds like a good idea now, but when you need that few extra points in gym class it'll be kind of hard to suck up to Eglamore. More likely, he's going to give them all a lot of extra running around. Since they failed to shiver the fat off while camping and all that. 2) We now have a bunch of 12-13 yos in a big house with a lot of rooms and beds, copious time on their hands, and no adult supervision. Sounds like a recipe for shenanigans, some more shenaniganny than others. Why do you look at these two? They were not doing anything! ;D Annie made a plan to lock the grownups out of the house to teach them a lesson and (someone) enlisted Jack's help to keep them out since he had obvious expertise with the laser cows. It doesn't look like Jack has become friends with them, he just agreed to help. On-screen, only Kat saw him in the robo-vet role. Meaning either dustup-and-peace or something else off-screen. But someone has to think up the whole "cow barrier". So, probably Jack simply volunteered in process. It's funny because the adults get their comeuppance, but also because it involves laser cows. Everything with laser cows in it is hilarious. Everything's Funnier With Laser Cows !
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Post by Casey on Oct 17, 2009 18:33:52 GMT
I think everyone has overlooked the REAL REASON people are going to have SUCH A PROBLEM with this CHAPTER.
RED LASERS GO ZOT, and BLUE LASERS GO BLAZ!
So WHY are the RED LASERS GOING BLAZ?!?!?
SOMEONE WILL PAY FOR THIS TRAVESTY
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Post by sebastian on Oct 17, 2009 18:39:27 GMT
And the house is surrounded by small trees and big shrubs. How big a tree does it have to be for Marcia to get through it? I think there needs to be some amount of live wood that she can fit her whole body through, and not just twigs or leaves. Also, how could the laser cows form a whole dome with latitude lines going all the way up? I could understand longitude lines from where their eyes are, and the single latitude line for the same reason, but how would they get multiple lines? I suppose it's just the "etheric power" of the court? Well, it is quite simple all you need to do is chatter chatter technobabble chatter phisical improbabilty chatter chatter technical-like jargon chatter chatter. And that is how you do it. Nothing difficult, really.
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Alex
Full Member
Posts: 165
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Post by Alex on Oct 17, 2009 18:44:23 GMT
No. It's: "If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." --Carl Sagan Sorry, I'm stupid. It was Clarke. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
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Post by Ulysses on Oct 17, 2009 21:01:45 GMT
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." And vice versa. Possibly.
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Post by xanbcoo on Oct 17, 2009 22:00:13 GMT
I need to stop skimming when I first read pages. I totally thought for a second and a half that Jack was about to blast everyone with a moving grid of lasers in panels 4 and 5. Time to rifle through the belongings of a man who married a tree, children. Go wild. "I have a problem with this chapter." --Carl Sagan Nothing in this chapter made me laugh harder this response.
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Post by Mylian on Oct 17, 2009 23:09:01 GMT
Guys, arching lasers are no less silly than fire-extinguishing lasers. Recall the Sagan quote. That is what I was pointing out. Does it have to be Sagan, or can I "repeat to myself 'It's Gunnerkrigg, I should really just relax...'" ;D
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Post by Aris Katsaris on Oct 17, 2009 23:40:28 GMT
Visible lasers through normal air are themselves impossible.
"Arching" & "fire-extinguishing" are secondary compared to that. :-)
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Post by Casey on Oct 18, 2009 5:52:38 GMT
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12th
New Member
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Post by 12th on Oct 18, 2009 11:34:45 GMT
The reason Vegeta still has a grumpy face? his ladyfriend is still missing. DRAMA.
Yeah, that's probably not true.
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Post by Aris Katsaris on Oct 18, 2009 12:19:44 GMT
I said normal air. The picture of the laser in that article specifies it's only visible because of airborne dust.
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Post by tyler on Oct 18, 2009 13:48:14 GMT
Well, if we're picking nits, it's visible because the quantity of airborne dust is greater than usual.
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unctuous
New Member
doesn't usually get such compliments
Posts: 41
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Post by unctuous on Oct 18, 2009 14:00:49 GMT
I guess the return of his usual smile would indicate that his old personality is still there? Even so, he was purposely malicious earlier, and not the person I'd opt to control the gridwork that determines who goes or stays. I can't fathom being excited about it, eeeek.
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